Imperator
by dragonofeternal
Summary: / Imperator - (noun) a Roman title equivalent to general or commander. Origin of the word "Emperor" / A series of character studies surrounding Kouen, set during the time frame when he captures his first two dungeons.
1. A Gift

"So, I heard you're going to be leaving us to fight for Kou."

Kouen jumps, dropping his pauldron in surprise, and whips around to see the crown prince leaning over the banister and half into the courtyard. "Pr-prince Hakuyuu! Don't you have-"

"Other matters to attend to?" Hakuyuu gives Kouen an easy smile. "Possibly. But I'd rather see you off."

Kouen stoops to pick up his pauldron, dusting the loose courtyard dirt off it. "There's going to be an official ceremony to see our party off. I wasn't goint to do something foolish like running off ahead, so you could have just seen me there..." Hakuyuu's attention always makes Kouen nervous and flattered. It doesn't matter how many times Kouen has saved Hakuyuu on the battlefield, or how many times Hakuyuu assures Kouen that they are all equal as citizens of Kou; Hakuyuu is the crown prince, due to take the throne and rule over Kou with a fist both just and powerful.

Compared to such a noble destiny, Kouen is nothing.

"Maybe so," Hakuyuu grips the banister tighter and jumps over it, down into the courtyard and next to Kouen. "But then I wouldn't have been able to speak to you properly." There's a smile on his lips, but a million worlds of worry float in Hakuyuu's eyes. Kouen wants to ask him what's wrong, to understand what troubles him, but his words get stuck, strangled in his throat. Kouen just nods instead, and that makes Hakuyuu's smile widen. "I wanted to thank you again, for your noble commitment to Kou."

Is that all he's worried about? Kouen gapes a little. "It's simply natural. I want... to protect Kou, and serve by your side, Prince Hakuyuu." He clasps his fist in his hand and takes a knee. "I wish to be worthy of being your general and second advisor. If the might of a djinn's metal vessel would be of use to us, than it is my sworn and solemn duty to retrieve it for you, my lord."

"Get up, Kouen." Hakuyuu's words are almost as warm as his hands as he pulls Kouen back to his feet. "You don't need to be so formal with me. Especially when I'm the one who has come to thank and honor you." Kouen can't meet Hakuyuu's eyes, so instead he lets himself be transfixed with his smile. "Like you said, conquering a dungeon will make Kou even more powerful, and I cannot thank you enough. But maybe..." And this time it's Hakuyuu crouching down on one knee. "This will help."

Hakuyuu reaches to his side and pulls his sword from its scabbard, carefully turning it over in his hands so he can offer it up to Kouen. Kouen stares.

"What."

"Please," Hakuyuu insists, pressing the sword towards Kouen again. "Dungeons are dangerous places. Many who go in never return." He looks up into Kouen's eyes. "I wanted... to give you a present. To keep you safe."

Kouen swallows thickly, reaching down with shaky hands to take the sword. "And so. You wanted me to have your sword. The one you carried for our entire campaign against Gou and Gai."

"That's right." Hakuyuu picks himself up out of the dirt and tuts at the dirt on his robes. "I figured it could help keep you safe." He puts a hand on Kouen's shoulder. "It's yours now. Keep it."

Kouen has no words. They're all stopped up, clogged in the back of his throat. He takes the blade and slowly replaces his old sword with it. "Thanks."

"You've earned it." Hakuyuu ruffles his hair. "Do be careful though; dungeons are dangerous, and you... well you never know what else could be out there."

A calling across the way ends their meeting: Hakuyuu is being summoned. As he jogs across the courtyard and back to responsibility, Kouen can't help but wonder if Hakuyuu is hiding something from him.


	2. The Magi

The magi has the reddest eyes of any child Kouen has ever seen, and sitting across from those giant, staring eyes makes Kouen so uncomfortable he'd rather be anywhere else. The child is six, and that seems a laughably young age even to Kouen, who joined the military at ten to serve at the crown prince's side. The child rummages in his robes and produces a peach from somewhere within the layers of silk and ruffles.

"What is in a dungeon?" Kouen demands of the child.

"Dunno," he replies, taking a giant bite of his peach. "They don't let me go in 'em. They say it's too dangerous, because I'm special."

Kouen makes a noise of aggravation. Of course the child would be of no help. What would he stand to know about any of this? He's just a small boy, but if the whispered words of the Empress's attendants are anything to go on his innocence is questionable. Kouen doubts that he's actually what people say- a demon or a creature of pure magic. It's hard to think of this tiny child as the weapon of war he's claimed to be.

"Well, what have other people you've raised them for seen?"

"I haven't raised any dungeons in Kou," the magi replies, a small piece of peach falling from his mouth. He picks it up off his robes with sticky fingers and shoves it back into his mouth.

"But you have raised them before."

"Yes."

Kouen waits patiently for the child to do something other than slurp and munch on peaches, until it becomes clear that he's going to have to ask more clearly. "Well, what did the people who have gone into your other dungeons seen?"

"They could be lying." The magi sucks every tiny bit of meat off the peach pit. "But Bar said there were monsters and puzzles and it was super dangerous."

Monsters? Puzzles? Kouen can deal with those. He looks out the window, slowly formulating a plan for once he is inside the dungeon. The child has to clear his throat before Kouen realizes that the conversation was not yet over for the magi. "Yes?" he demanded, eager to get back to his thoughts.

The magi blinks his huge red eyes. "So? What are you hoping's in the dungeon?"

Kouen blinks hard, taken aback by the child's forward nature. "...Puzzles. I suppose." Kouen's wits are sharp, and his mind hungers for the knowledge he's heard is hidden within. "I hope... that there are lots of interesting puzzles to solve."

The magi stares for a while after that, and Kouen doesn't dare break eye contact, unsure of exactly what it is the child wants. Then he breaks into a massive grin and fishes two more peaches out of his robes. "It's gonna be forever 'til we get there, so I guess you can have some of my peaches too."

Kouen takes it gently, and then offers the magi a real smile in return. "Thank you."


	3. No Greater Treasure Than Wisdom

Ri Seishuu lives to serve the Ren royal famiy. His father and grandfather served the Emperor Hakutoku in his conquest of Gou and Gai; his great-grandfather before them served Hakutoku's grandfather in his quest to become the leader of Kou when it was a mere tribe of the Eastern plains; and even before they ascended to such noble heights, the Ris have served the Ren family in war and peace, as stewards, as aides. Theirs is a lineage of noble servitude. And yet, in all the generations upon generations that the Ris have served the Rens, Seishuu doubts there has ever been a task so tedious as serving Ren Kouen.

"You about done?" Seishuu calls from his perch atop a crumbled pillar. "The men are getting restless."

Kouen glances back at Seishuu. It's a little surprising to see him tear his eyes away from the wall he's been agonizing over for the last two hours. "They will just have to wait," Kouen announces, jabbing his stick of charcoal at Seishuu. The fourth prince's fingers are blackened from his meticulous work making rubbings of every carving they've come across. "The Emperor has entrusted me with the duty of conquering this dungeon and bringing back its treasures."

"That would sound a lot more impressive coming from some deep-voiced general," Seishuu teases, "instead of some brat that just happens to be part of the royal family."

That raises Kouen's hackles enough to raise him to his feet. "Calling me a brat is rich, coming from the likes of you. Some miniature manservant has no right to condescend to the likes of me."

Seishuu hops off his pillar and shoots up into Kouen's personal space like a snake about to strike. Instead, he just flicks Kouen between the eyes. "Just because I'm shorter than you doesn't mean I'm not equipped to make commentary. If you're here to get the treasure for the Empreror, then what are we doin' wasting time copying gibberish off these stupid walls?"

Kouen smirks, as though Seishuu has stepped into some sort of trap. "Well, Seishuu, I'm glad you asked." Oh no. It is a trap. "To begin, this is not 'gibberish,' it's the Tran script, a language spoken by the Tran people who are found scattered all over the world, the written form of which appears almost exclusively in dungeons. The script of the Tran-" Seishuu can feel his eyes glazing over as Kouen gears up to talk. He's got no head for rants like this. He rolls his eyes up to the heavens, lost somewhere in the sweltering gloom high overhead. He wonders how long they'll be in this dungeon. He wonders if he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity wandering around after this rambling nobleman. Here he'd thought that following Ren Kouen, the noble warrior who had fought alongside the crown princes, into a dungeon would lead to some action. Instead it's just rants and sermons and sitting around waiting- "Are you listening!?" Kouen bellows, snapping Seishuu back to attention. It's actually pretty impressive how loud he can get.

"Uh... no?" No point in lying when he's been caught.

Kouen sighs heavily and runs a hand down his face. "Then I'll summarize. The knowledge contained in these carvings could provide clues not only to how to conquer this dungeon, but to the people who created it. If we could understand the means by which the dungeons were first created, then Kou would have at it's fingertips a power unlike that which the world has ever known! Do you understand?"

Seishuu considers Kouen's words for a moment, turning them over in his head. "Yeah..." He grins back at Kouen. "Yeah, I get it now. You're a poindexter whose got scowl lines on his face before twenty, but you know what you're talking about." Seishuu whirls on the idling troops and draws his sword, raising it high. "Hey, you lazy dogs! Did you hear that!? Prince Kouen has decreed these stupid walls just as important as the treasure and the djinn! So get off your asses and get working!" When the men just muttered and shifted, Seishuu bellowed some more, chasing them about until every last man was at work making rubbings of the dungeon walls.

Kouen is not entirely sure how he ended up with the world's most ill-trained archaeological team, but he'll take it.


	4. The Makings of a King

Dropping down into the pit of snakes was not the problem. Kouen has faith in his translations, and unless "descend into the hall of serpents" was a metaphor or colloquialism he was unfamiliar with, this is the right path. Nor was the problem what happened right after, when the way behind them sealed and plunged them into darkness.

No the problem is this, now, when the far wall springs to life into a terrible flaming golem. Kouen watches two of his men melt to death, armor and flesh and all, under the golem's fiery grip.

This. This is a problem.

"Fall back," Kouen barks. "Fall back and regroup!"

Seishuu flicks his eyes to Kouen. "Plan?"

"Working on it." Kouen wracks his brain backwards to the inscription. The urge to screw his eyes shut tempts him, but Kouen resists. His men need him alert, watching; he can't let them down. The flaming golem lumbers slowly towards his huddled troops, but with the quick way it had dispatched the first too men, Kouen knew it's simply taking its time.

 _"Descend into the hall of serpents_  
 _And in that darkness_  
 _Topple the tower of flame_  
 _To open the way..."_

After that, the inscription had crumbled away to fragments he couldn't make out without context. Standing here now though, it becomes clear that "tower of flame" should be taken figuratively. Kouen swallows thickly and glances back at Seishuu. "I'm coming up with one."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Kouen digs his heels in. "We stand here-"

"Are you crazy!?" Seishuu interrupts. "That thing just melted two of our-"

"We stand here, and lure it close. At my signal you part the men and get them out of the way. That thing has to be knocked down, and we have to knock it into this wall behind us to reach the treasure room."

"And just how are you gonna knock that thing over? It's-"

Kouen grips the hilt of the sword Hakuyuu gave him. "With this." He glances back at the golem, then again to Seishuu. "It's almost close enough now. I'm counting on you."

Before Seishuu can protest again, Kouen charges, trampling the writhing bed of serpents beneath him. He doesn't have room for error, he cannot fail here. Failure here means death, not just for him, but for every man he has led here. He is a general of the Kou Empire, and he will not let it end here for them. The giant reaches, and Kouen drops into a slide. His left pauldron catches on a stone, and the strapping attaching it to his arm snaps. No time to trouble himself over it. He's behind the giant now, and the heat is so intense he feels as though he's melting. Kouen yanks Hakuyuu's sword from its sheath as he leaps back to his feet and drives the point home, right into the joint between its knees.  
Something inside cracks beneath the hard steel. Magic may animate the golem, but a broken joint is a weakness in anything. Kouen yanks the sword free and barks, "Part! Fall to the sides!" and he too is running backwards, away from the fiery collision as the behemoth crashes forward and into the back wall of their snake-filled tomb.

Seishuu yells in victory, but Kouen simply stands, struck dumb that his plan worked. He looks down at the sword in his hand. A little hot, but not melted. Not damaged. Seishuu tackles him into a hug that knocks Kouen a few stumbling feet back. "You did it! You did kicked ass! And this is why we follow you!"

Kouen remembers his station and shoves Seishuu aside. "Lets waste no time. The djinn's treasure room should be this way."

Kouen strides forward, paying no mind to the way his legs shake now that the adrenaline is gone from them. He doesn't have time for that sort of nonsense. He picks a path for his men, through the flaming rubble and beyond the former wall, up a narrow flight of steps that lead to the grand, massive doors of the treasure room. At the head of them he pauses. Although fear and apprehension whirl in his gut, they are not why he turns from the doors.

"Men!" He shouts, and his next words have been carefully rehearsed since he was chosen for this important mission. "Behind these doors lies the treasure room of a great djinn! It is through great honor and strength that we have made it thus far, and I thank you all!" Kouen raises Hakuyuu's sword high. "Now... Let us step through this path so that I may claim the djinn's power and lead Kou's armies to further victory!" The assembled men roar with their fervent love of Kou and of Kouen, and Kouen allows himself a small smirk of success as he turns and opens the doors.

The treasure room is not so much a single room as a vast necropolis. Kouen could spend the whole of his life studying every inch, but now is not the time. He strides forward, under arches and past torches that still burn despite being uncountably old, and boldly lays his hands upon a vase marked with an eight-pointed star. Everything rumbles and from the vase emerges the djinn.

"I am Astaroth," booms the djinn from on high, his head wreathed in snakes and his great body draped in jewelry, "the Djinn of Terror and Meditation. Who will become king?"

Kouen grips Hakuyuu's sword tight. "I, General Ren Kouen of the Kou Empire!"


	5. Gossip

"Have you heard the rumors?"

The problem with taking meals in the courtyard is having do deal with the gossip of servants as they come and go in their duties. They speak as though no one could possibly hear them, even though they speak their business to the world. Kouen pays them little mind as he munches on his light lunch in between practices.

"Oh, you mean about Princess Hakuei's marriage arrangements?"

"Yes- the word is now that she might be married to Prince Kouen to unite the two lines and keep bad blood from stirring between the Emperor's children and those of his brother!"

That perks Kouen's ears, and he leans around the tree he took his lunch under to see the two gossips. A pair of eunuchs, ones he recognizes as his own father's harem keepers. Of course they would be all up on the marriage gossip.

"A good match if you ask me. The princess stands no chance at the throne, but it is a good showing for Koutoku's line."

"Oh yes, definitely. Especially with how well Prince Kouen has proved his worth to Kou!"

Princess Hakuei and him, eh? Kouen returns to his meal. She's certainly a lovely girl, though he can't admit to haven given her much thought before. It would be a high honor to be made even more a part of Hakuyuu's family as well. To call him a brother not only of arms, but of lineage as well? Kouen pops the last of his bun into his mouth. He would be elated.

As he picks up his sword and returns to his forms, Kouen loses himself to muscle memory and thought. Thrust, side-step, forwards, backwards... Hakuei is a smart girl, and he's seen her make a buffoon of Seishuu on horseback. She wouldn't be too terrible of a wife. He's sure she'd love to learn more about history, about Alma Torran and dungeons and war. They could probably talk. He trips a little over his feet, almost falls, but twists and recovers, turning it into a swirling attack. For all her skirts and finery and ladylike manners, Kouen knows that the princess sneaks sword lessons from Hakuren. She would appreciate-

"Nice move," Hakuei calls as she crosses the footbridge into Kouen's chosen practice grounds. Her younger brother, the youngest prince, huddles behind her skirts like a frightened duckling. "But if you watched your footwork better you wouldn't have that problem."

Kouen's face flushes red with embarassment. "Princess!" He fumbles his sword away. "I hadn't realized-" But Hakuei is laughing.

"Isn't that my brother's sword?"

"He gave it to me." Kouen's tongue is stupid in his mouth, and nothing but the tersest words can leave it. The princess doesn't take offense though.

"Is that the one your djinn inhabits now?"

"Yes."

When he doesn't go on, Hakuei comes closer. "Well, may I see?"

Kouen has a moment's thought that ladies have no business being exposed to such things, but it passes quickly. Hakuei's brothers are great heroes, her mother is the one who brought the magi to Kou. If any lady would understand such things, it would be her. He draws Astaroth from his sheath again and presents it to her. Hakuei leans over, inspecting the sword and its eight-pointed star. Her brother stays buried in her skirts but peeks at the sword under Hakuei's arm.

"So it's magic now?" Hakuryuu asks timidly.

Kouen nods. "It is. And I will use it to protect all of Kou." He carefully puts the blade away again and gets down on one knee to bow to the two of them. "And that goes doubly for you, Princess Hakuei. I swear that I will always keep you and all you hold dear safe." When he peeks up, Kouen gets to see Hakuei giggle, a girlish blush on her cheeks.

"Get up, Kouen, you look silly down there. Should you really go swearing oaths in your grubby practice clothes?"

"Well, I should think the lack of ostentatious clothes would make it more earnest," Kouen grumbles, feeling a bit foolish now. Perhaps wedding bells aren't so close in his future after all. Princesses have no understanding of things that lack ceremony.

Hakuei gives him a peck on the cheek. "Well, I must be on my way, but farewell for now!" She bustles away in a giggly swirl of skirts, Hakuryuu chasing after her. She pauses and glances back. "Maybe if you can learn to ask a lady things in a proper way, I will consider your proposal."

Kouen scoffs as he returned to his practice, but his cheeks still felt pleasantly warm.


	6. In the Shadows

"Lotta stuff sure has changed in the last year, huh?" Hakuren leans back against Kouen, gazing up at the moon. The noise of the festivities filters out to the two of them as a soft murmur of distant speech and joy. Hakuren refills Kouen's cup with his pilfered bottle of peach wine.

"I suppose," Kouen replies, taking a small sip.

"Well I mean... You got a djinn, my father was assassinated, and now Yuu's all set to take the throne while you're getting sent off to conquer another dungeon..." Hakuren forces out a laugh that Kouen thinks may be fake. "It's just a lot to take in!"

"I am sorry about Emperor Hakutoku." Kouen grips his cup a little tighter. "But I'm sure Hakuyuu will do fine. He's going to be a wise ruler."

"Yeah." Hakuren runs a hand through his hair and sighs heavily. Silence keeps smothering their conversation with the weight of words unsaid, and Kouen hasn't seen him touch his wine since they came out here to talk. "How about those rumors about you and Hakuei getting married, though?" Hakuren punctuates the shift in conversation with another forced laugh.

"Why are you not saying what you want to say?" Kouen says.

Hakuren starts and finally glances over at Kouen. "Haa... you're a pretty frank guy, huh, Kouen?" He runs a hand through the short, messy hair that can't be drawn up into a bun. "There's a lot of shit going on behind the scenes right now. Shit that we aren't even sure about."

Kouen furrows his brow. "Explain."

Hakuren makes a gesture back at the party. "I can't talk in specifics. Too many ears. But Dad's death wasn't an accident, Kouen."

"Well of course it wasn't," Kouen interrupts. "He was assassinated by those ogres from the former Gai-"

"No." Kouen starts at the dangerous edge in Hakuren's voice. He looks over to see Hakuren looking more angry than he's seen in years. There's a bloodthirst in Hakuren's eyes that reminds Kouen of being at war all over again. "It was a setup. The man they hanged is innocent, and the culprits are-" Hakuren starts a little, his eyes sharpening in the gloom as though he has spotted something Kouen missed. He follows Hakuren's gaze and sees nothing but the young magi cavorting in the trees, accompanied by an entourage of priests desperately attempting to prevent another broken arm. "Well. Suffice to say, they're people in the palace. There's a coup in the works, and we're all in danger."

Kouen's head snaps back to Hakuren. "What?! Then you must tell me at onc-"

Hakuren grabs Kouen's arm and yanks him back down to sitting. "Shhh! Keep your damn voice down!" He squeezes Kouen's arm until the fire leaves his eyes. "Yuu's gonna have my head for having such loose lips."

"I'll call off the dungeon venture. I'm sure your mother will-"

"No." Hakuren is final. "We need all the power we can get, and if you have an opportunity to get another metal vessel then..."

Kouen swallows, and he makes a face that suggests Hakuren's order tastes as bitter as it feels. "Understood."

Hakuren forces on one of his big comforting smiles. "When you get back I promise we'll clue you in on everything. We've got a lot of big plans ahead, the three of us."


	7. Agares

"Who will become king?" the djinn cries out, his voice ringing of the walls. Kouen grins and opens his mouth to reply, ready to step forward, but the djinn interrupts. "Eh? Is this all I really get to pick from?" Agares' face falls, and Kouen stumbles a little as the djinn shrinks from a fearsome beast to a friendly cat. To be fair, said cat is still vast enough to devour him in a small manner, but now he seems almost precious.

"What do you mean?" Seishuu shouts. "Here's your fabulous King's Candidate right here!" He gestures broadly to Kouen, waving his arms to and fro until one of his fellows, Kin, bops him on the head.

"Mind your tongue," he hisses to Seishuu, "lest you give the djinn a poor impression of Lord Kouen!"

Seishuu turns around to jab Kin in his gut. "I don't need some squishy, dungeon-capturing greenhorn to tell me, a seasoned veteran-"

Kouen throws out an arm in front of both of them, and the bickering stops. "I am Ren Kouen, conquerer of the dungeon Astaroth, and I will be your king as well, Agares." He draws his arm back in, clenching it into a fist. "I have solved your puzzles and bested your beasts. I bear in my heart a noble quest." His voice grows to a roar that makes men cower, and he thrusts his hand out, pointing at Agares. "A precious, fuzzy djinn such as yourself is the perfect compliment to my assets! Join with me, Agares, so that we might spread the Kou Empire's ideals to the world!"

Agares leans forward, becoming vast once more. "And what might those ideals be?" The djinn's voice is a snarl, but Kouen doesn't flinch.

"All men," Kouen replies, repeating the words his loyalty to Hakuyuu have burned within his soul, "are one. They simply do not realize it. The divisions of country and kingdom must be destroyed to reunite the world and eliminate war." He clasps his hand over his heart. It is an oath he has sworn many times in his heart. "The world is one!"

Agares eyes him before grinning, all teeth. "Very well. I accept you as my king, Ren Kouen." He becomes insubstantial and his power courses through the air and into Kouen's pauldron as his final words ring through the air. "I hope you will serve me well..."

* * *

Kin and Seishuu are laughing back and forth as their carriage pulls to a stop so that they can join Kouen on horseback for the final stretch of their return into Rakushou.

"You certainly showed that djinn his place, Lord Kouen," Kin says as he clambers on to his stout warhorse. "Why, the two of you were like a pair of lions fighting it out for dominance!"

Seishuu rolls his eyes as he gently kicks his horse to a trot. "I'd say they were more like a pair of bickering alley cats."

Kin glares at Seishuu for his snickering. "Nonsense. Lord Kouen was the model of decorum!" He reaches over and claps Kouen stoutly on the back. "Why, I dare say people should call him a lion himself with how well he leads."

"I don't really have much need for nicknames, Kin," Kouen says, shrugging off the compliment and the almost-painful clap on the back. "My talents speak for themselves."

Seishuu looks thoughtful as Rakushou slowly rises in the distance before them. "I dunno... Your djinn equip with Astaroth gives you snake shit..." He grins over at Kouen. "Maybe Agares will make you look like a terrifying lion."

Kouen's brow furrows in thought. "Well, I hope it isn't too fearsome. I was thinking that such a... comparatively soft djinn might be alright to show the Princess."

Seishuu whistles. "Kouen and Hakuei, kissing in the garden, Kouen and Hakuei, his pants begin to-"

"You stop that!" Kouen shouts, his face going red. Seishuu recognizes it as embarrassment, not rage. "I simply think that Astaroth is too fearsome a djinn for a lady's sensitive disposition."

Kin laughs at that. "I daresay though, the Princess's charm point is most definitely those things which make her least ladylike."

Seishuu groans. "I swear, if you bring up that one time she beat me in riding-"

"I was going to bring up the swordplay, actually." Kin twirls his thick black mustache and looks practically devious. "I hadn't heard about the lost contest of horsemanship."

As they cross through the gates of Rakushou, Kouen holds up a hand to order the party to stop. With a shuffling of hooves and an abrupt end to what would have been a very rude word, Seishuu, Kin, and the rest of the adventuring party obeys.

"My Lord?" Kin asks, looking at Kouen curiously.

Kouen slowly shakes his head, his hand still raised. "Something is wrong." He looks back at his men. "We sent word ahead that we'd be returning."

Seishuu glances around at the almost empty streets, the lack of fanfare. "Maybe we came back quicker than expected? Or maybe they just didn't feel like giving as big a to-do for your second djinn?" He gives a teasing smile. "What, sad you aren't getting as much atten-"

"No." Kouen turns back around. "No, something is wrong." He spurs his horse to a gallop and speeds through the streets. The people he sees move slowly, and so many wear white, mourning white, as they did when the Emperor died, and the pit of Kouen's stomach is cold with terror. He will ride through the gates of the palace, he will cross the courtyard and go up the high stone stairs to find-

Through the gates, the palace is gone.


	8. Inheritance

There is a knife twisting in his gut as he washes his hands and draws back his hair. Kouen ties a covering over his mouth, as the doctors and mages advised him to do. He's in a delicate state, they warned. We need to take every precaution possible.

Kouen has seen death. He's been on the battlefield since his tenth birthday; his present was a sword and an order to fight, and he'd used both to their fullest extent. He knows well the adrenaline of watching a man die by your own hands, and the horror of watching someone wither away when their wounds leave nothing to do but wait.

Hakuren was the only man he knew who was brave enough to sit with men who wither.

Kouen swallows thickly before sliding open the door and then quietly shutting it behind himself. The room is silent save for the shallow, raspy breathing of the youngest prince of Kou. He quietly crosses to Hakuryuu's bedside and sits beside him, taking a single, tiny hand in both of his. He feels like there are words he should say; Hakuren always had stories and jokes to make this time easier.

"Hakuryuu..." he starts, but it feels hollow with the way it echoes around the empty room. He clenches the tiny hand and sits.

He shouldn't have left Rakushou, not with the way Hakuren had been whispering about a coup. Astaroth is a djinn of flame. A blazing building is nothing compared to the power of a djinn. He could have stopped this, he could have saved everyone-

Hakuryuu coughs weakly in sleep, and the pitiful noise inspires Kouen to continue.

"Hakuryuu. I'm sorry." Kouen's voice is tight, and he hates how unsure it sounds. "To you. And your sister. To everyone." He lowers his head, until his forehead brushes Hakuryuu's tiny fingers. "I could have stopped this, but instead I simply followed orders. If I had just-" he chokes up again. There are too many words to be said. Kouen breathes deep so he can force them out- each word a terse, hard, bitter lump. "Never again. I will find out what your brothers knew, and I will protect you and Hakuei from the darkness that is creeping over our family." Kouen looks up and stares at his tiny, bandaged cousin. No, not cousin- they're brothers now. His heart twists. "You will never have to face this alone, Hakuryuu. I will protect you from this. So do your duty and live." He releases Hakuryuu's hand and gets up, unable to stare at his helpless brother any longer. "It's what Hakuyuu and Hakuren would have wanted for you."

His own father no doubt has a hand in this treachery, and who knows how many other people are involved. But Kouen will prevail. He will unite Kou, and all the world. No man, Hakuyuu had told him, is greater than another. The Emperor's blood is as much Kouen's as it was Hakuyuu's.

And he will see its will carried out.

* * *

Imperator _is a Latin word originally equivalent to general or commander. The word later evolved into the title of Emperor._


End file.
